PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF THE SEC REVEAL: GPC Far Ahead of Islah,  and 25 Female Candidates Win 75% Say “YES” & “20% Say “NO” to Amendments [Archives:2001/09/Reportage]

The preliminary partial results of the local council elections revealed on Sunday February 25 by the Supreme Elections Committee in a press conference, are as follows: 
Constitutional Amendments Referendum: 
Total eligible number of voters was around 5,600,000 
Number of voters who actually voted: 2,023,157 (27.3% of the eligible voters) 
‘YES’ to amendments: 1,520,989 (75.18% of counted, and 27% of total votes) 
‘NO’ to amendments: 413,418 (20.43% of counted votes, and 7% of total votes) 
Cancelled votes: 88,750 (4.39% of counted votes, and 1.75% of total votes) 
Local Council Elections: 
The total number of provinces in which elections were conducted were 332. So far, the results have been declared for only 284 provinces. 
The total number of electoral centers in which elections were conducted were 2,025. So far, results were declared in only 1,585 centers. 
The complementary elections were conducted yesterday (Sunday 25 Feb.) in 143 electoral centers nationwide. Difficulties were faced in 21 of these centers, resulting in the suspension of elections in them. 
The difficulties were mostly due to demands by electors to add new electoral centers or provinces, or due to the illegitimate transportation of ballot boxes. 
Total candidates participating in the elections were more than 23,000 
Total seats won for province councils: 3,324 candidates 
GPC: 2,052 candidates (61.7% of the so far counted seats) 
Islah: 664 (20%) 
Independent: 460 (13.8%) 
YSP: 126 (4.0%) 
Nasserite: 10 
Haq Party: 1 
Popular Forces Union Party: 1 
Socialist Baath Party: 1 
Total seats won for governorate councils: 281 candidates 
GPC: 195 candidates (69% of the so far counted seats) 
Islah: 61 (21.7%) 
Independent: 23 (8.2%) 
YSP: 12 (4.3%) 
See table for detailed results 
Female Candidates 
On the other hand, more than 25 of the 120 female candidates, some of who are independent and others from different political parties, won a seat in the governorate and province councils. 
Reaction to the official results 
The Vice Chairman of the SEC, which represented the Islah Party protested the results by leaving the hall immediately after some of the results were announced in the press conference. Sources told Yemen Times that the reason behind the withdrawal of the Islah representative was due to the fact that the results were announced before even being consulted and before comparing the results with what Islah had in hand. It is worth mentioning that Islah had its own results that it obtained based on its own supervisory groups, and which did not match with the official results. 
Until going to the press, Islah did not concede and give up its claim that the official results are not accurate. It continued to accuse the ruling party of taking over the SEC and stealing the seats that Islah had already won in several governorates. 
Some opposition parties, on the other hand, protested the results even before they were announced. The Nasserite Party declared last Tuesday its rejection of the results, and it considered the elections null and void due to the high number of fraud and violations that took place. The party intends to file a lawsuit against the SEC for the same reason. 
Violence Incidents 
Regarding the violence that took place, the official number given by the SEC was 11 deaths and 23 injuries, while the unofficial number is around 40 deaths and more than 100 injuries. The SEC defended the elections by saying that this number is quite small compared to the fact that Yemen has a large armed population. Among the killed were a an 8-year-old boy in Aden and a woman in Shar’ab in Taiz. 
President Ali Abdullah Saleh gave a statement on Saturday to the Central Security headquarters in Sanaa regarding the violent incidents that led to the killing of five policemen. He said, “We cannot accept terrorism and violent actions. You should be swift and strong against whoever comes against the law.” He also stated that the ones killed during the elections are, “Martyrs of democracy, and if needed we will give thousands more.”
 
Independent Observers 
Independent observers openly criticized the disorganization of the SEC but saw no major fraud attempts that could have changed the results. But they also stated that it was evident that there was a healthy competition between GPC and Islah, which they expected could lead to close results.

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